Oui, Chef

EVOO's Local Blueberry Crisp

This is a great, seasonal and simple dish from a favorite chef of mine, and one of our “Chef’s Table” contributors, Peter McCarthy, the very talented chef / owner at EVOO restaurant in Cambridge.

Here in the Northeast it’s blueberry season, and while there are plenty of great things to do with all of our local flavor bombs, like make blueberry jam, blueberry cake, blueberry pie, or blueberry ice cream, I challenge you to find a recipe as good and simple as this blueberry crisp.

There is hardly anything more to this recipe than some simple measuring and mixing, a brief stint in a hot oven to burst the sweet berries and crisp the streusel topping, and then if you wish (and why wouldn’t you?), a reach into the freezer for a nice big scoop of vanilla ice cream.  This dish is all about a lot of goodness for not a lot of work.....Amen.

Muppet helped me measure and mix the topping while I pulled together the simpler filling ingredient list (I’m no fool).  We quickly combined our efforts in an 8" round x 3 1/2" deep ceramic baking dish and tossed it into a 350℉ oven for about a half hour, piece of cake...or crisp, as it were.

Support Local Farmers!

Buy Local Blueberries!

Make This Crisp!

Cheers - S

Recipe:

EVOO's Blueberry Crisp

From: EVOO Restaurant, Cambridge, MA.

(Print Friendly Version)

Ingredients:

Topping: 

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 1 pound softened butter
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 4 cups  all-purpose flour
• 1 cup rolled oats (not quick oats)
• 2 cups  toasted slivered almonds

 

Filling:

• 8 cups  local blueberries
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon corn starch
• 1 tablespoon brandy
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

 

Method:

Topping:

In the bowl of a stand mixer combine the first 8 ingredients until they come together.  Add the toasted almonds and mix until combined. Chill in the fridge for a few minutes to let the butter set.

 

Filling:

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl (wow...that was tough). 

Assembly:

Place filling in an adequately sized baking pan or individual baking cups. Crumble topping on top.  Depending on the size of the baking dish you use, you may have some of the topping left-over, if you do, toss it into a zip-lok and freeze it for later use.  I like my crisp with a higher blueberry to topping ratio, so I use a deeper baking dish with a smaller surface area on top for the streusel.  If you like more crunch in your crisp, use a larger, shallower dish that will take more of the topping to cover.

Bake in a 350℉ pre-heated oven for 30 minutes, until filling is bubbling around the sides.  Serve with a scoop of ice cream, or some freshly whipped cream.

Serves 8-10

 

 

 

Spring Asparagus Soup

Imagine my surprise when my lovely wife returned home from an appointment last week with a bag full of the most beautiful asparagus I'd ever seen.  Upon further inspection, I noticed that the stalks were enormous, nice and thick and long enough to stretch from the crook of my elbow to the tip of my fingers. Interestingly, the cut ends were wrapped in wet paper towels....these were no ordinary spears bought from a store, but rather cut fresh from a friend's private stash that very morning (insert hallelujah chorus here).

That night, I roasted then briefly and served them with an orange hollandaise sauce, they were sublime.

Fabulous Roast Chicken

Roast Chicken.

It's hard to think of two other words that fit so perfectly together, isn't it?

To my mind,  a well cooked roast chicken is about as fine a meal as you can eat.  There is just something about it....the tender juicy meat, the crispy, well seasoned skin, and please don't get me started about the aroma that fills the house while it cooks......it is absolutely intoxicating.

Why is it then that so few people I know actually make roast chicken on a regular basis? I know plenty of people who cook chicken regularly, either by cooking "parts" on the grill, or by sautéing cutlets indoors.  I know people that frequently make Buffalo Wings, Coq au Vin, or Chicken Fricasee, but never seem to get around to roasting a whole bird.  Why is that?

Shepherd’s Pie with Caramelized Onions and Cheddar Smash

Our weather has been so cold and raw here lately, with day after day of what our local meteorologists call a "wintry mix" falling from the sky, that only the heartiest of meals will do.  This delicious shepard's pie made with ground lamb, and topped with a mix of mashed potatoes, caramelized onions, and cheddar cheese, is a textbook example of the kind of comfort food that is a perfect foil for this kind of weather.  In case you've been wondering, your childhood lunch-line memories of a dish like this made with ground beef is properly called a "cottage pie", only a true shepard's pie is made with lamb.......there, now you know.

Local Organic Steak with Kalamata Chimichurri Sauce

I love my grill.  I love the act of cooking just about anything on my outdoor grill, from the freshest swordfish, to thick, fat-marbled, beef rib-eye steaks.  Every man I know is the same, even guys that avoid cooking in their kitchens at all costs.  Put them next to a screaming hot grill and they have an almost instant primal reaction to the thing.....it's like we're all back living in a cave and trying to tame fire for the first time. 

Sadly, as a resident of the Northeast, my opportunities to grill outdoors in the winter are fairly limited.  We've had such a bad spell of weather as of late, that I haven't even bothered to dig a path through the snow to my grill, you know, just in case we have a day that creeps above 40℉ and tempts me to fire up the beast.

That said, we have found ourselves doing more braising, making pastas and soups, and generally taking a break from grilled meats.  It's been all good, and natural, and seasonal, and in keeping with the proper rhythm of life in New England. 

That was, until the other day when Peyton said she was "really...really...REALLY hankerin' for a steak, and questioned if there was there anyway...PLEEEEASE that we could cook one indoors, because she really missed the sizzling, juicy, charred goodness of beef flesh done on the grill!"  Clearly, she has been working on connecting with her inner cave woman.

Happily for her (and for all of us, really) there is a perfectly excellent way to cook steaks indoors, one that imparts many of the flavors that open-flame grilling does when cooking on an outdoor grill.  There are two keys to crafting a "grilled" steak meal indoors to satisfy your inner caveman (or woman as it were), the first is to start with a nice thick steak (at least 1 -1/2" - 2" thick), cut from organically and humanely raised cattle.  Second, you need BIG heat.  For me, that translates into a fully pre-heated cast iron grill pan over a high flame to start cooking your steak, and a pre-heated 425℉ oven in which to finish the cooking.  Oh....and you might want to be sure you have a good kitchen exhaust fan too.

I'm a proponent of adding complexity to the flavor of a good steak.  For a filet, that may come in the form of a nice sauce bernaise, or perhaps a dollop of compound butter on top, for a  sirloin or well marbled rib-eye, it is hard to beat a great chimichurri sauce.  I was first introduced to chimichurri when I used to travel to Houston frequently for work.  There was a great Argentinian restaurant there called Churrascos, that served fabulous steaks with the best chimichurri.   The freshness of the parsley, the acidity of the vinegar, and the bite of the garlic are all perfect foils for the melting fat and earthy chew of the beef.  It is so quick to throw one together, that once you've tried it, you'll be making it a lot, I promise.

So let's begin, shall we?

Recipe:

Kalamata Olive Chimichurri

adapted from: Bon Appetit Magazine - February 2009

Ingredients:

• 4 tablespoons fruity olive oil, divided
• 4 garlic cloves, finely minced
• 1/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
• 1 bay leaf, broken in half
• 1/3 cup finely chopped shallots
• 1/3 cup finely chopped fresh Italian parsley
• 4 tablespoons roughly chopped, pitted Kalamata olives
• 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar

Method:

Heat 2 tablespoons oil in heavy medium skillet over medium heat. Add  shallots, red pepper, and bay leaf. Stir until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add garlic and sauté, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in parsley, olives, and vinegar.  Season chimichurri with salt and pepper, and add a little water by teaspoonfuls to thin as needed. Let sit at room temperature while you cook your steaks, remove the bay leaf before serving.

For the Steaks:

Preheat oven to 425°F. Season steaks on both sides with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper.  Brush heavy, large oven-proof grill skillet (preferably cast-iron) with vegetable oil. Heat over high heat until just smoking. Add steaks. Cook until nicely browned, about 4-5 minutes. Turn steaks and transfer skillet to oven. Roast until instant-read thermometer inserted horizontally into steaks registers 125°F to 130°F for medium-rare, about 10 minutes.

Let steaks rest at least 5 minutes. Thinly slice crosswise, and spoon chimichurri over.

Macaroni and Cheese with Ham

I've been searching for some time for a homemade mac and cheese recipe with which to break Muppet of her addiction to a certain, well known, boxed mac and cheese mix comprised of a tasteless cheese powder and sad little pasta shells.  All prior efforts have failed miserably with the dish either being "too cheesy", "too dry", "too crunchy on top", or "too spicy" due to the incorporation of various seasonings.

The whole "too cheesy" thing makes no sense to me at all (I mean, can there really be such a thing?),  but I have been sympathetic to her other critiques and carried forth in search of a suitable replacement to her favored bowl of cardboard shells and re-hydrated cheese goo.  I am happy to report that finally, with the help of my very talented food-writer friend Melissa Pasanen (long-time correspondent for the Burlington Free Press, as well as a staff writer for Edward Behr's incomparable "The Art of Eating"), and Chef Rick Gencarelli, I have found a mac and cheese recipe that will hopefully serve to banish all boxed versions from my house in the future.

Bouchon's Quiche Lorraine

OK. 

This is not a recipe for the casual, "I just like to throw it together" kind of cook, and certainly not one you will be whipping up in a rush on a weeknight, but if you have any interest at all in making what is likely the best quiche on the planet, I urge you to stop clicking on your mouse and hang with me here for a while.

It also is not a recipe that you can give your kids free reign over, but it does have plenty of elements that the kids can help with, and I encourage you to make them part of the process.  Not only will most kids LOVE this quiche, but I think it important that we make the effort to train our next generation in the fine art of quiche making, an art that is still alive and well in Europe, but sadly died here in the States in the "real men don't eat quiche" days of the early 80's.  Americanized quiches baked in factory-made, soggy pie shells, with over-cooked, curdled custards make me want to scream....our kids deserve better, don't you think?

This dish is actually not difficult to make, but as with every recipe Chef Thomas Keller creates, it IS exacting, and therein lies its brilliance.  Keller is not one of those chefs who lives on the bleeding edge of culinary adventure, like Heston Blumenthal, Feran Adria, or Grant Achats.  These guys make their livings pushing the edge of the envelope with regard to cooking technology and high tech ingredients, that allow them to reconstruct food in ways that leave diners giddily questioning what exactly it was they just ate. 

In contrast, what Keller does better than anyone else is rip classic dishes down to their most basic elements, and then reconstruct them using only the finest ingredients, and with such a finely honed and thoughtful technique, that the end result is a dish that is instantly recognizable for what it is, but is of a quality that has been elevated almost beyond measure.  When finished, you will immediately recognize this dish as a quiche, but what you will have created will make every other quiche you have tasted seem like a cheap, plastic imitation.  Successfully creating this dish will not require technical wizardry on your part, but it will require a tight eye on a few key details.  The rewards for your vigilance will be ample, I assure you.  You game?.....Then let's go.

Farmer's Market Cheddar Melt

This open faced sandwich was inspired by a trip to our local farmer's market the other day. While there we bought a loaf of delicious whole grain bread, some locally cured ham, organic apples, some sharp cheddar cheese, late season arugula, and a nice little acorn squash (although a sweet potato would have worked equally as well, I think). In keeping with these local New England flavors, we added some maple syrup and a tangy cranberry chutney to the dish. I love the contrasting flavors and textures of the sandwich, the peppery arugula along side the sweet squash and smokey ham, the gooey cheese juxtaposed with the crisp apple, and all of it popped by the tangy cranberry chutney. 

Tell me, what kid wouldn't like a sandwich with sweet fruit in the middle, and gooey cheese melted all over the top of it.  This sandwich would be delicious with a bowl of Butternut Squash Soup with Apple Cider Cream!

Enjoy - Steve

Recipe:

(Print Friendly Version)

Ingredients:

Whole Grain, artisan baked bread

Smoked ham, locally cured, thickly sliced

Roasted acorn squash, smashed

Organic honey-crisp apples, cored and sliced (or any other local apple you have handy)

Vermont, sharp cheddar cheese


Arugula

Whole grain mustard

Cranberry chutney

Method:

• Preheat oven to 400℉
• Split acorn squash in half, top to bottom, and scoop out the seeds.  Please 1 teaspoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of maple syrup in the cavity of each half, and place in a baking dish .  Sprinkle the squash with kosher salt, and pour a little water into the dish to keep the skins from burning and sticking to the bottom.  Place in the oven and bake for 1 hour (or longer if you have a big squash)
• Remove the squash from the oven and let cool.  When cool enough to handle, scoop the insides into a bowl and mash with a fork, making sure the butter and maple syrup is evenly distributed, check for seasoning and set aside.
• Set your oven to broil.
• Cut a thick slice of the bread and toast it.  Build your open faced sandwich starting with the mustard, then the sliced apples, the smashed squash, the arugula, the ham and finally the cheese.  Place the sandwich on a sheet tray and pop under the broiler, cook until the cheese is bubbling and starting to brown.
• Remove from the oven and serve with a big spoonful of cranberry chutney (I have a great recipe I'll share in a future post), some squash soup, or a simple green salad.

 

The Chef's Table - Richard Garcia of Tastings Wine Bar and Bistro

I had the pleasure of making Chef Richard Garcia's acquaintance through a friend of mine at the Chef's Collaborative, and I am so glad that she recommend I give him a call.  Not only is Richard a terrific chef, but he is very engaged in the food world outside of his restaurant, with a particular interest in making sure our kids have access to high quality, healthy food at school, and that they all learn about cooking and making good food choices from an early age.  He's my kind of guy.

We met a couple of Fridays ago on a snowy (can you believe it?) morning at Patriot Place in Foxboro, where his restaurant is located.  It was early and he was working alone, putting time into the dish that he would be serving at the Chef's Collaborative fund raiser that we attended that Sunday.  He is a very approachable guy, and immediately made me feel at home as we sat at a table nestled among his restaurant's outstanding wine collection.

Rich and Spicy Applesauce

When the boys returned from a visit to their grandparent's house in VT. last weekend with a 1/2 bushel bag of fresh from the tree, organically grown apples, it could only mean one thing....time for some homemade applesauce!  Making your own applesauce is so easy to do, and the quality of the end product so far better than ANYTHING you can buy in a store, that we haven't bought a jar of applesauce in many years.